Almost everybody suffers from this illness once or twice in a year especially in winter season, and children are more susceptible. Adults usually recover promptly and completely but viral pneumonia may be fatal to children. If the common cold is neglected, it may lead to serious complications of upper respiratory tract.



The common cold is a type of upper respiratory tract infection, which is the area from your neck up. This is probably the most frequent type of infection in children. Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses that are in invisible droplets in the air we breathe or on things we touch. Because the common cold is caused by a virus, antibiotics will not help to either stop symptoms or cure the cold. More than 100 different rhinoviruses can infiltrate the protective lining of the nose and throat, triggering an immune system reaction that can cause a throat sore and headache, and make it hard to breathe through the nose.

Hundreds of different viruses are believed to be causes of common cold symptoms. Rhino viruses, corona viruses, adenoviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, orthomyxoviruses, paramyxoviruses, syncytial virus, enteroviruses and influenza A and B viruses, as well as parainfluenza viruses can all cause common cold symptoms.

Although a virus that causes the common cold cannot reproduce outside of the human body, it can live on the skin and other surfaces for as long as three hours. These viruses become airborne when an infected person sneezes and to a lesser extent when he or she coughs. The next person becomes infected when he or she inhales the airborne secretions or touches the face after touching an infected person or a surface that they touched. Common cold duration can be as short as two days or as long as two weeks.

The belief that bacteria causes the common cold may stem from the fact that people with the common cold have symptoms that are similar to the symptoms experienced by a person with a sinus infection. Pain in the face, forehead or teeth will typically accompany a sinus infection, but not a cold. Antibiotics are effective for treating sinus infection, but not viral infections, like the common cold.

Persons infected by cold viruses scatter the disease when they cough or sneeze. Coughing or sneezing causes the infected person to splutter saliva and sticky liquid called mucus. This liquid contains the virus. When microscopic amounts of the liquid contaminate the surroundings, such as the air or personal items like towels or handkerchiefs, people who come into contact with them become vulnerable to the infection. The virus gets transmitted through the air we breath or through our unclean hands when we touch our noses.

Because herpes virus lives in your nerves, it quickly senses even the slightest change in your physical condition. Once it feels conditions are right, this virus will activate and quickly move to the surface of your skin - usually around the lip or nose. Its main goal is to force the surface nerve cells to create new herpes virus. This replication process causes the destruction of many cells. The result is an open and painful ulcer.